University of Wisconsin - Extension

Has Wisconsin raised the quality of child care for low-income working parents? UW-Extension hosts two press conferences on May 21 to share findings from an evaluation of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Excellence Initiative, an experimental test of one of the state's welfare reform policies.

The press conferences will be held at the Multi-Cultural Community Services in Milwaukee and Dane County Parent Council in Madison, two of 28 programs receiving Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) grants to operate as Centers for Excellence.

Both press conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, May 21:

10:00 a.m. Multicultural Community Center, North Hopkins, Milwaukee, WI 53209 (414) 527-1010

1:30 p.m. Dane County Parent Council, 2096 Red Arrow Trail, Madison WI 53711 (608) 275-6740

Each press conference will consist of:

* Four brief presentations, totaling 20 minutes:

Milwaukee press conference speakers:

-- Jennifer Reinhert, Secretary, Wis. Dept. of Workforce Development

-- Dr. Dave Riley, UW-Madison/Extension Child and Family Studies Specialist

-- Nancy Nestler, Executive Director of Multicultural Community Center

-- A parent from Multicultural Community Center

Madison press conference speakers:

-- Jennifer Reinhert, Secretary, Wis. Dept. of Workforce Development

-- Dr. Dave Riley, UW-Madison/Extension Child and Family Studies Specialist

-- Marcia Huemoeller, Executive Director of Dane County Parent Council

-- A parent from Dane County Parent Council

* Opportunity to question all participants.

* Press packet, including sample figures, background information,

quotes from child care staff and participating parents from around

the state, and contact information for follow-up.

* Opportunity to take video or still photos of children and teachers

in one of the Excellence Centers. The press conference will be held

on-site at an Excellence Center, and prior approval for photography

by members of the press has been obtained from staff and parents.

* Convenient parking at site.

Research has shown that high quality early care and education

programs have a big impact on children's later success in school and

life. Quality of child care is an important goal of state

policy-makers.

The $15 million Wisconsin Early Childhood Excellence Initiative was

established to improve the quality of child care by providing a

substantial grant to 28 child care programs across the state that

serve primarily low-income families. These Centers for Excellence

provide outreach to other child care programs in their communities,

working in partnership with the Department of Workforce Development

(DWD) Office of Child Care, local resource and referral agencies and

University of Wisconsin-Extension.

The initiative is a statewide program with an especially strong

presence in Milwaukee. The entire state of Wisconsin benefits from

the initiative as UW-Extension documents "Promising Practices" from

the Centers for Excellence to be shared with all 10,000 regulated

child care programs in Wisconsin.

UW-Extension researchers will present, for the first time publicly,

the results of their evaluation based on direct observations of over

300 early childhood classrooms throughout the state.

For more information about the Early Childhood Excellence Initiative,

see the Web site at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/ece/centers.html .